THE HALFAX HEIMDALL AUGUR

Army top brass affirms commitment to take 'all measures necessary' to ensure availability of Pakistan’s water share <p>The army’s top brass on Monday expressed its “resolute commitment to undertake all measures necessary to ensure availability of Pakistan’s rightful share of water”.</p> <p>The development came as Chief of Defence Forces (CDF) and Chief of the Army Staff Field Marshal Asim Munir presided over the 276th Corps Commanders’ Conference (CCC) at General Headquarters (GHQ) in Rawalpindi, according to a statement by Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR).</p> <p>“The Forum, taking note of Indian rhetoric surrounding the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), reaffirmed the guidance given in the National Security Committee (NSC) directive” of <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1906284">April 24, 2025</a>, which followed India’s <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/1906075/pahalgam-attack-india-suspends-indus-waters-treaty-with-immediate-effect-closes-attari-border-crossing">unilateral move</a> to put the treaty in abeyance.</p> <figure class='media w-full sm:w-1/2 media--right media--embed media--uneven' data-original-src='https://www.dawn.com/news/1906310'> <div class='m…

By suspending the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan, India intends to solidify its upstream water advantages as a non-military tool for coercive diplomacy . Interview with China's Southern Weekly, I discuss the implications of new round of Indus dispute. .https://news.qq.com/rain/a/20260703A06XVW00

The Ravi returns to Lahore after four decades, reclaims lost land and ... For the first time in four decades, the Ravi has breached the international border, with the recent deluge inPunjab sending its waters gushing into Pakistan, where it has reclaimed lost land and hearts. Multiple social media accounts from across the border showed young Pakistanis flocking to a historic bridge in Lahore to see the “miraculous return” of the Ravi. The last time the river, considered the lifeline of Lahore in undivided Punjab, breached the international border was during the devastating 1988 Punjab floods. While heavy monsoons or floods have, over the years, ensured that the Ravi’s flow into Pakistan was never cut off completely, the recent deluge saw nearly 30 km of the iron fencing along the India-Pakistan frontier getting washed away, leaving both sides of the zero line (the international boundary) flooded. This monsoon that witnessed unprecedented rains, the river carried over 14 lakh cusecs of water, surpassing the 1988 record of 11 lakh cusecs, according to official data. This time, Ravi’s fury submerged several towns and cities on both sides of the border — from Gurdaspur and Pathan…

Blood, iron and water: India's riparian hypocrisy <p>South Asia teeters precariously upon a powder keg of existential volatility, ironically fuelled by water itself. This dangerous moment has been propelled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s flagitious and untenable proclamation that the waters of the Indus basin belong exclusively to India.</p> <p>One reaches this sombre conclusion after reading the <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/2010916">incisive column</a> by Ahmar Bilal Soofi, titled “Dams on Chenab — a target?”. A leading jurist, Soofi has consistently advocated rigorous legal remedies against Modi’s malevolent suspension of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) of 1960 — an act tantamount to de facto abrogation, devoid of legitimacy under the principle of <em>pacta sunt servanda</em>.</p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media-- media--embed ' data-original-src='https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TKB6pZ1L3eI'> <div class='media__item media__item--youtube '><iframe src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/TKB6pZ1L3eI?enablejsapi=1&controls=1&modestbranding=1&rel=0' loading='lazy' allowfullscreen='' frameborder='0' scrolling='no' width='100%' height='100%'></iframe></di…

By suspending the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan, India intends to solidify its upstream water advantages as a non-military tool for coercive diplomacy . Interview with China's Southern Weekly, I discuss the implications of new round of Indus dispute. news.qq.com/rain/a/20260...

The Indus Waters Treaty-Obstruction, Exploitation and the Long-Overdue ... Pakistan has repeatedly used the Indus Waters Treaty’s dispute resolution mechanisms not for genuine compliance but as a strategic tool to delay or obstruct India’s hydropower development on the Western Rivers. Projects such as Baglihar, Kishenganga, Pakal Dul, and Tulbul have faced prolonged challenges despite being permitted under the Treaty. At the same time, Pakistan has cultivated an international narrative portraying India as a potential ‘Water Aggressor,’ a claim at odds with India’s flawless 65-year record of compliance, even during wars and Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. The result has been suppressed hydropower potential in Jammu and Kashmir, unrealised irrigation benefits, and long-term energy and economic losses for India. Listen to this story 0:00 0:00 Asymmetric Obligations, Unequal Concessions and Pakistan’s Weaponisation Second of Two Parts Pradeep Kumar Saxena New Delhi, May 10, 2026 Pakistan’s Weaponisation of the Treaty Systematic Obstruction of Indian Development Since the Treaty’s signing, Pakistan has consistently used its dispute resolution provisions as a strategic tool to delay and e…

The Indus Waters Treaty: Correcting the record, preserving the law <p>On May 9, 2026, <em>Malay Mail</em> published a <a rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link--external" href="https://www.malaymail.com/news/what-you-think/2026/05/09/indus-waters-treaty-asymmetric-obligations-unequal-concessions-and-pakistans-weaponisation-part-1-pk-saxena/219299">two-part article</a> by former Indian Commissioner for Indus Waters P.K. Saxena, titled <em>“Indus Waters Treaty: Asymmetric obligations, unequal concessions and Pakistan’s weaponisation”</em>.</p> <p>The article tried to do more than criticise Pakistan. It sought to recast the Indus Waters Treaty as a historical injustice to India, to portray Pakistan’s use of Treaty procedures as obstruction, and to defend India’s decision to hold the Treaty in “abeyance” as a legitimate correction of an allegedly unequal bargain.</p> <p>When such an argument enters the public domain, it carries institutional weight even when formally described as personal opinion. For that reason, the record should be corrected carefully, professionally and firmly from Pakistan’s side.</p> <h2><a id="claims-versus-facts" href="#claims-versus-facts" clas…

By suspending the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan, India intends to solidify its upstream water advantages as a non-military tool for coercive diplomacy . Interview with China's Southern Weekly, I discuss the implications of new round of Indus dispute. news.qq.com/rain/a/20260...

India:Indus Waters Treaty Crisis: Why South Asia’s Power Balance Is Shifting Last month, Pakistan formally objected to India's Bhakara Dam expansion. This was the third major dispute filed under the Indus Waters Treaty in eighteen months. Pakistan feeling the pressure as the treaty is degraded by

India suspending the indus water treaty-even with the run-of-river dams India had built, it could manipulate the flows to a point that could cause pain, especially since Pakistan did not have the reservoirs to store the waters being released. reduced flows and excess flooding caused by

Dar writes to UNSC president, highlights India's 'brazen violations' of Indus Waters Treaty <p>UNITED NATIONS: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar has urged the UN Security Council (UNSC) to take notice of India’s “brazen violations” of the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), warning that New Delhi’s actions<a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/2006754"> threaten</a> Pakistan’s water security, regional stability and international peace.</p> <p>Pakistan’s Permanent Representative to the UN Ambassador Asim Iftikhar Ahmad delivered a letter from DPM Dar to the president of the UNSC, Ambassador Leonor Zalabata Torres of Colombia, drawing attention to India’s violations of the IWT.</p> <figure class='media w-full w-full media-- media--embed media--uneven media--tweet' data-original-src='https://x.com/PakistanPR_UN/status/2067650872356520231'> <div class='media__item media__item--twitter '><span> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet" lang="en"> <a href="https://twitter.com/PakistanPR_UN/status/2067650872356520231"></a> </blockquote> </span></div> </figure> <p>In a post on the social media platform X, the ambassador said the letter “draws …

Blood Flows With the Water: An International Legal Assessment of the ... Released on the 64thanniversary of the signing of the Indus Waters Treaty,Blood Flows with the Water: An International Legal Assessment of the Indus Waters Treatyprovides groundbreaking legal analysis regarding the Indus Waters Treaty (1960) with a focus on Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir. The Indus Waters Treaty governs water rights with respect to a globally critical fresh water resource in one of the most geopolitically dangerous, climatically impacted and systematically ignored parts of the world. Through accessible legal analysis, this report demonstrates: - The Treaty violates international treaty law, international human rights law, international humanitarian law and international water law. - The Treaty has promoted in and continues to cause various grave violations of international law. - The Treaty is invalid under international law. Ultimately, this report argues that the Treaty should be replaced with an equitable sharing arrangement consistent with international law. September 2024 Originally published

Pakistan on Thursday rejected the alleged Indian effort to control rivers by treating water as a "strategic asset," especially in the case of the Indus basin. Foreign Office spokesperson Tahir Andrabi's comments during his weekly press briefing were in response to a question about India's decision to put the Indus Water Treaty (IWT) in "abeyance". India took a series of punitive measures against Pakistan a day after last year's Pahalgam terror attack on April 22. One of the major steps was putting in "abeyance" the 1960 vintage IWT, which has governed the distribution and use of the Indus river and its tributaries since then. Andrabi said that Pakistan rejected "India's attempt to invoke baseless allegations of terrorism as a pretext for placing the Indus Waters Treaty in abeyance and obstructing the lawful flow of the Pakistani share". "Let this be very clear: the real issue is not terrorism. The real issue is the growing disposition within the Indian leadership to treat a shared international river system as a strategic asset that can be controlled, withheld or diverted at will," he alleged. Andrabi said that water is not a tool of coercion or political pressure and any atte…

Arbitration Court Orders India to Share Hydropower Records - Pakistan Today January 31, 2026 An international arbitration court has directed India to produce key operational records from its hydropower projects under the Indus Waters Treaty, marking a significant development in the ongoing dispute. Staff Correspondent January 31, 2026 ISLAMABAD:In a significant development for Pakistan in the long-running Indus Waters Treaty dispute, an international court has ordered India to produce key operational records from its hydropower projects on rivers allocated to Pakistan. The Court of Arbitration, constituted under the 1960 Indus Waters Treaty (IWT), issued a 13-page Procedural Order directing India to submit operational logbooks from the Baglihar and Kishanganga hydroelectric plants by February 9, 2026, or formally explain any refusal to do so. Pakistan has been instructed to specify the exact documents it seeks by February 2, 2026. A hearing in the Second Phase on the Merits is scheduled to take place in The Hague from February 2 to 3, regardless of India's participation. Pakistan has consistently argued that India has misused the IWT's hydropower provisions by exaggerating …

Indus Waters Treaty remains ‘valid, binding and operative’: Pakistan Deputy PM Ishaq Dar claimed that any attempt to deprive Pakistan of the waters “rightfully allocated” to it would have “profound consequences” for regional peace and security, Radio Pakistan reported

Facing Indus Waters Treaty fallout, desperate Bilawal Bhutto warns of ... Attempting to use global platforms to deflect from its ongoing internal water mismanagement, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday resorted to a fresh war of words, linking regional stability to the 1960 water-sharing pact with a warning that peace comes at a cost for Pakistan. "If anyone believes that Pakistan will surrender the Sindh, they do not know Pakistan. They do not know Sindh. They do not know Punjab. They do not know Balochistan. They do not know Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They do not know Kashmir or Gilgit Baltistan. They do not know the people who have lived by these rivers for thousands and thousands of years. We want peace, but peace with dignity. We want dialogue, but dialogue under law. We want coexistence, but not submission. So from this seminar, from this city, from this moment let a message go forth. Pakistan will defend its water, its people, its treaty, its sovereignty and its future," he said. Issuing hollow warnings to cover up Islamabad's diplomatic isolation, Bhutto-Zardari said, "any attempt to undermine Pakistan's water rights would receive a national…

One river, two countries: The Indus once fed civilisations. Now it can ... IANS The Indus River is a 3,180 km long trans-Himalayan river originating in the mountainous Western Tibet region, flowing through different regions in India and Pakistan before emptying into the Arabian Sea. (Pic credit: IANS) It gave India its name. But things are not exactly great with the great Indus river . What was once the “Mother of Rivers”, today finds its delta withering, mangroves dying and sacred fish like Palla and blind dolphin vanishing. Once Asia’s second-largest, the Indus Delta has shrunk drastically due to upstream diversions. The annual freshwater flow to the delta has plummeted from 150–180 million acre-feet (MAF) to often less than 10 MAF. Mangrove coverage has reduced to barely a fifth of its historical extent, while seawater intrusion poisons croplands and groundwater up to 80 km inland. With India signalling unilateral disengagement from the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) after the recent military conflict with Pakistan, tensions between the two neighbours have resurfaced around one of South Asia’s most important yet ecologically compromised river systems. While Pakistan has vowed to uph…

Indus Waters Treaty: A Legal Perspective | SCC Times Introduction The Indus Waters Treaty, 1960 1 , has been in the news of late. Most discussions have revolved around India’s decision to put the Treaty in abeyance following the Pahalgam terrorist attack. The disputes around the Treaty are however not new. For the past about 2 years, India has been calling upon Pakistan to discuss and agree to modifications to the Treaty in light of changed circumstances. This article presents certain key facts, summarises the controversies and discusses the way forward. The Indus Basin The Indus and its five tributaries (Jhelum, Chenab, Ravi, Beas and Sutlej) comprise one of the great river systems in the world. Its waters have cradled ancient civilisations and are steeped in history, religion and culture. The India-Pakistan partition drew a line across the Indus system, rendering sharing of its waters a vexed issue. After years of discussion the World Bank proposed and facilitated the Treaty. The structure of the Treaty The six rivers comprising the Indus Basin were clubbed in two categories. The “Eastern Rivers” — Sutlej, Beas and Ravi fell to the share of India, except for certain permissible …

Indus Waters Western Rivers Arbitration (Pakistan v. India) As a watercourse that flows across national boundaries, a large portion of the Indus system of rivers is the subject ofthe Indus Waters Treaty of 1960 ("Treaty")1between India and Pakistan, which sets forth the respective rights and obligations of the two States concerning the use of the waters of these rivers. PLA-0001,Treaty, Art. I(5)("The term 'Eastern Rivers' means The Sutlej, The Beas and The Ravi taken together"). PLA-0001,Treaty, Art. I(6)("The term 'Western Rivers' means The Indus, The Jhelum and The Chenab taken together"). PLA-0001,Treaty, Art. I(10)("The term 'Domestic Use' means the use of water for : (a) drinking, washing, bathing, recreation, sanitation (including the conveyance and dilution of sewage and of industrial and other wastes), stock and poultry, and other like purposes ; (b) household and municipal purposes (including use for household gardens and public recreational gardens) ; and (c) industrial purposes (including mining, milling and other like purposes) ; but the term does not include Agricultural Use or use for the generation of hydro-electric power"). PLA-0001,Treaty, Art. I(11)("The ter…

Re-reading the water treaty <p>TWO senior officials, one each from Pakistan and India, have laid their arguments before an international readership. Dr. P.K. Saxena, former Indian Commissioner for Indus Waters, <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" target="_blank" class="link--external" href="https://indianembassyberlin.gov.in/pdf/Article_English_14052026.pdf">published </a>a two-part indictment of the Indus Waters Treaty in May 2026, now circulating through Indian embassies worldwide. Syed Mehar Ali Shah, Pakistan’s serving commissioner, <a href="https://www.dawn.com/news/2008013">replied </a>in <em>Dawn</em> on June 16. Both men know the IWT’s text better than most people today. Read together, their exchange is the most technically precise public debate on the Indus since the IWT was signed. It is also, ultimately, a debate between two officials who are both looking backwards. The rivers they are arguing over are not the rivers that existed in 1960.</p> <p><strong>What India has argued:</strong> Saxena’s argument rests on a single, blunt thesis: India negotiated in good faith and paid for it for 65 years. Pakistan delayed acceptance of the 1954 World Bank proposal by four years,…

COMMENT: Indus Waters Treaty at a strategic crossroads — Part I <p>FOR more than sixty-five years, the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) has stood as one of the world’s renowned, most enduring and successful transboundary water-course division arrangements between two nation states.</p> <p>Beyond its legal and international significance, it has also been the cornerstone of Pakistan’s water resources development.</p> <figure class='media w-full sm:w-1/2 media--right media--embed media--uneven' data-original-src='https://www.dawn.com/news/2012355'> <div class='media__item media__item--newskitlink '> <iframe class="nk-iframe" width="100%" frameborder="0" scrolling="no" style="height:250px;position:relative" src="https://www.dawn.com/news/card/2012355" sandbox="allow-same-origin allow-scripts allow-popups allow-modals allow-forms"></iframe></div> </figure> <p>The certainty and predictability of flows provided by the treaty enabled Pakistan to develop the Indus Basin Irrigation System (IBIS); the world’s largest contiguous irrigation system, comprising three major reservoirs, six barrages, twelve inter-river link canals and an e…

Pakistan's pleas to the world that India restore the Indus water treaty is a joke bc India hasn't stopped a drop of water. A quick search on the net confirms this. The treaty reg the Indus river (a river which starts in India) was broken by India on paper only, bc of terrorist attacks...1/2

Facing Indus Waters Treaty fallout, desperate Bilawal Bhutto warns of Facing Indus Waters Treaty fallout, desperate Bilawal Bhutto warns of "profound consequences" Islamabad [Pakistan], July 1 (ANI): Attempting to use global platforms to deflect from its ongoing internal water mismanagement, Pakistan Peoples Party (PPP) Chairman Bilawal Bhutto-Zardari on Tuesday resorted to a fresh war of words, linking regional stability to the 1960 water-sharing pact with a warning that peace comes at a cost for Pakistan. 'If anyone believes that Pakistan will surrender the Sindh, they do not know Pakistan. They do not know Sindh. They do not know Punjab. They do not know Balochistan. They do not know Khyber Pakhtunkhwa. They do not know Kashmir or Gilgit Baltistan. They do not know the people who have lived by these rivers for thousands and thousands of years. We want peace, but peace with dignity. We want dialogue, but dialogue under law. We want coexistence, but not submission. So from this seminar, from this city, from this moment let a message go forth. Pakistan will defend its water, its people, its treaty, its sovereignty and its future,' he said. Issuing hollow warnings to cover up Islam…

The Indus Waters Treaty: Correcting the record, preserving the law ... JUNE 19 — For background, on May 9 this year,Malay Mailpublished a two-part article by P.K. Saxena titled “Indus Waters Treaty: Asymmetric obligations, unequal concessions and Pakistan’s weaponisation”. The article tried to do more than criticise Pakistan. It sought to recast the Indus Waters Treaty as a historical injustice to India, to portray Pakistan’s use of Treaty procedures as obstruction, and to defend India’s decision to hold the Treaty in “abeyance” as a legitimate correction of an allegedly unequal bargain. When such an argument enters the public domain, it carries institutional weight even when formally described as personal opinion. For that reason, the record should be corrected carefully, professionally and firmly from Pakistan’s side. Water treaties survive because facts are kept straight, obligations are not blurred, and unilateral narratives are not allowed to harden into public assumptions. If a former Treaty official presents safeguards as unfairness, dispute settlement as weaponisation, and unilateral suspension as a right decision, silence would risk normalising a view that is legally u…

Indus Waters Treaty: The lawfare of India's position - Down To Earth On May 7, India conducted “precision strikes” underOperation Sindoor, destroying “terrorist infrastructure” at nine sites in Pakistan and Pakistan Occupied Kashmir. These steps were taken in wake of a terrorist attack in Pahalgam, where 25 Indians and one Nepalese tourist were killed. A week before the precision strikes, as part of a slew of diplomatic responses to the attack, India announced that it was holding theIndus Waters Treaty(IWT), 1960, in “abeyance”. This is, according to India,neither an attack nor an act of waron Pakistan. Pakistan, though, thinksotherwise. Since its independence in 1947, India has signed bilateral river treaties with Pakistan, Nepal, and Bangladesh. Take IWT, signed between India and Pakistan, for instance. The treaty on sharing of waters of the rivers under the Indus system was signed after mediation by the World Bank in 1960. It allows India an “unrestricted use” of waters of the eastern rivers, namely Sutlej, Beas, and Ravi. Pakistan has similarly unrestricted use of waters of the western rivers in the Indus Basin — the Jhelum, Chenab, and Indus itself, with certain dam-buil…